George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series has become, in many ways, the gold standard for modern epic fantasy. Martin–dubbed the “American Tolkien” by Time magazine–has created a world that is as rich and vital as any piece of historical fiction, set in an age of knights and chivalry and filled with a plethora of fascinating, multidimensional characters that you love, hate to love, or love to hate as they struggle for control of a divided kingdom. It is this very vitality that has led it to be adapted as the HBO miniseries “Game of Thrones.”